Typewriting machine



Nov. 27 1923 igms m A. UTZ

TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed Dec. 1 I 1.922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 27, 1923 A. UTZ

TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed Dec. 1, 1922 2 Sivzaets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 27, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- ANTHONY UTZ, OI!" HARTFORD, CONN ECTICI'ITL', ASSIGNOR TO ROYAL TYPEWRITER COMPANY, INC., OF NEW YORK, N; Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK. l

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

Application filed December 1, 1922. Serial No. 604,251.

To aZZwMm it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTnonYU'rz, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Typewriting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of typewriting machines in which the platen is raised from one position to another in "order to provide for printing both upper and lower case letters by the type bars, and particu l arly to machines of the Royal type in which the platen is mounted in a carriage which is raised to a new position when upper case printing or the useof capital letters are required. In such machines means have heretofore been provided for lin'iiting' the upward movement of the carriage at the front of the machine and also its downward movement to normal position both at front and rear, and means located at the front of the carriage operated by the shift key or keys has been used for holding the front portion of the carriage in either its raised or lowered position, but so far as I am aware, no means has heretofore been used for sustaining the weight of the rear part of the carriage when in raisedposition. In machines of the Royal type the weight of the rear portion of the carriage tends to cause the carriage to sag orlower slightly at its rear end, thus tending to loosen the carriage guides and clamps where considerable strain has heretofore been placed.

The object of my invention is to provide means, for overcoming these defects by sustaining the weight of the rear'portion'ofthe carria e when in raised position in order that sagglng of the carriage or loosening of the guides and clamps maybe avoided. My invention therefore, broadly stated, consists in providing means applied to the rear part of the carriage when in raised position for holding it firmly in proper work in order. p I

eans, of well known construction and operation, is employed also for holding the carriage in lower position until the shift key is operated and for holding the front portion of the carriage in raised position when shifted and these devices are coordinated with the devices of my invention to firmly hold the carriage as a'whole in its raised position.

So far as I am aware no devices have heretofore been employed for holding the rear portion of the carriage in raised position.

and I therefore will claim such devices broadly, but I preferably employ devices of the kind shown in the accompanying drawings which comprises a carriage support having a part which is normally disengaged from the carriage, but which is brought to engaging position when the carriage shift mechanism is operated.

The details of the'preferred form of the back of the machine, looking in the direc-' tion of the arrows marked 2 in Figure 1.

, The'remaining figures are all on an en- I larged scale.

Figure 3 is an elevation looking from the left hand side of the machine, of the carriage support shown in Figure 1 and it is the preferred form of the invention. This figure of the drawings shows the position of the parts when. the carriage is in its lowered position. V

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, but showing the position of the parts when the carriage is raised and is supported by the rear carriage support.

Figure 5 shows a vertical section of the devices shown in Figures 3 and 4, the section being taken on the line 5 5 of Figure 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows in Figure 2.

Figure 6 shows a transverse sectlon on pivoted to the machine frame at shows a transverse section on of Figure 5, looking in the direct'ion ofi the arrows in Figure 5.

Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate a modified form of the invention.

Parts of the machine frame are indicated at A. One of the side plate-s of the carriage is shown at B and C indicates the platen. D indicates a carriage shift rail between which and the carriage rail E balls e are interposed as in all Royal machines. The rails D and E are held together by clamping plates F which, while permitting the carriage to travel from side to side of the machine on the shift rail, prevent the carriage from rising away from the shift rail. The rail D is provided with downwardly extending legs G, the lower ends ofwhich are pivotally connected at g with links H h and the upper ends of the legs are pivotally connected at i with arms I, connected as usual to a rock shaft J. One of the arms 1, preferably the one at the left hand side of the machine, has a downwardly extending portion K, the lower end of which is connected with a shift key and when the shift'key is operated the carriage is raised from lower to upper position in the usual way. The weight of the carriage is counterbalanced to some extent. by a spring L at tached .at one end to the extension K and connected at its opposite end to a toothed plate M pivoted to the main frame at m and made adjustable by means of a set screw N engaging a nut 17. attached to the main frame. These devices are of Well known construction. By adjusting the screw N the tension of the counter balancing spring maybe changed to the desired extent. I

The carriage supporting frame is provided with a lug or bracket 0 which is adapted to abut against an adjustable stop P when the carriage is raised. The stop P limits and defines the upward movement of the front. part of the carriage below the platen.

A shift key and lever is indicated at B,

it being understood that two connected shift levers may be employed if desired and as usual. The upwardly extending arm of the shift lever is connected by an adjustable link S with the downwardly extending arm K of the carriage shift mechanism. This construction is the usual one.

I Briefly stated, the link S is formed with a loop s at itsrear end which engages a pin a on the arm K. This loop at its front end is connected with a spring 8 which is attached at its rear end to the pin 8'. Nor- I mally the parts are in the position shown in Figure 1, the rear end of the loop 8 being some distance the shift key is operatedfto raise the carriage, loop engages the pin and thereafter the link connections to the shift lever cause the carriage to be raised and the spring 8 is placed under tension.

The carriage, supporting frame is normally held firmly in its lower a latch T pivoted at t to the machine frame and normally engaging a bracket t on the carriage supporting frame. This latch is connected by an adjustable link U with the upwardly extending arm of the shift lever. When the shift lever is operated, the latch is first withdrawn from the bracket and then the looped end of the link S engages the pin 8' and the carriage is raised and may be held in elevated position by holding down the shift key. It may be locked in raised position by a shift lock lever V connected to the shift lever by the devices shown at W which are of usual construction and are. operated in a well khown way. 1

In order to support the front portion of the carriage when elevated, I employ a dog X pivotally mounted at t and connected by an adjustable link X with the upwardly projecting arm o of the shift lock lever V. When the carriage is in its lowered position the dog X is withdrawn from engagement with the bracket as indicated in Figure 1 and,the carriage can be raised and lowered by the shift lever as often as required. When, however, it i desired to hold the carriage in elevated position for printing capitals successively and the shift lock key is brought into operation, then the dog X engages beneath the lug or bracket t and holds the carriage in raised position until the shift key is operated to lower the .carriage. It will be observed that the confromthe pin 8'. When there is some lost motion before the position by j motions of thelinks S and X with the shift lever and the shift lock lever are loose ones, allowing" of some lost motion other parts of the mechanism. -All of the' mechanism hereinbefore described in detall is practically the same as that used in the standard Royal machines.

I will now describe my improvements which cooperate with some of the devices hereinbefore described. I would say, however, before going into detail that so far as I am aware no one has heretofore provided means applied to the rear frame of the machine for supporting the rear' portion of a platen carriage when in raised position and I will claim this'invention broadly, but the accompanying drawings show the best ways now knownto me for embodying my invention.

Attached to the rear part of the carriage supporting frame B is a pin 1 which is placed eccentricallyon a bolt 2 secured to the carriage supporting. frame B and carrying a nut 3. By means of the devices shown, the pin 1 may be given the desired adjustment. It will be understood that the frame is a part of'the escapement supporting frame and while it is raised and lowered it *about a horizontal axis.

does not move transversely of'the machine with the carriage. The pin 1 cooperates with a support which engages the pin when the carriage is 1n raised position, but which is normal y out of engagement therewith. This support, as illustrated in Figures 37 of the drawings, consists of a flange 4 on a sleeve 5 surrounding a vertical post 6 mounted to turn in a bracket 7 attached to the main frame of the machine. The enlarged lower end 8 of the sleeve rests on the top of carries at its which bears against the under side of the bracket and which is firmly secured to the post. The sleeve 9 has firmly connected with it an arm 10 which projects at right angles from the axis of the post and which is connected as shown most clearly in Figure 2 to a link 11 connected at its outer end loosely as shown at 12 to a bell crank lever 13 pivotally mounted at 14 to turn This bell crank lever is connected by a Wertically arranged link 15 to a bell crank lever 16 mounted to turn about a horizontal axis on a bracket ones, allowing some lost 17 extending from the rear portion of the machine frame. This bell crank lever 16 is connected by means of an adjustable link 18 with the downwardly extending arm as of the dog X, which dog as before explained,

is connected with the shift lock lever V.

It will be observed that the connections of the several links with the levers are loose I motion, in order to prevent undue strain.

Returning now to the carria e supportingdevices, it will be observe that normally when the carriage is in lower position the pin 1 rests on the flange or enlarge ment 8 of the sleeve. The flange 4 does not extend entirely around the sleeve, as clearly, shown in the drawings, so that when the carriage is raised the pin Loan move freely from the flange or enlargement 8 to the cupped portion 20 at the top of the sleeve. This cupped portion of the sleeve provides a housing for the lower portion of'a coiled of the post 6, one end of the spring 21 be- 7 ingconnected with the cup 20 as shown in Figure 5. The opposite end of the spring 21 is connected with a cap 22 which is firmly secured to the post 6 by a screw 23.- The cup 20 has projecting upwardly from it narrbw lugs 24 which enter recesses 25 in the lower edge of the cap 22.

. By means of the mechanism before described, the post 6 can be given a partial turn= In the commencement of this move ment the spring 21 is put under slight increased tension without moving the sleeve but thereafter the sleeve is moved by the reaction of the spring and also by the spring connection between the cap and the sleeve. This spring connection is for the purpose of providinga cetrain lost motion to enable the pin 1 to rise above the flange 4 while the carriage is being raised and before the flange 4 is moved to operative relation with the pin. Such spring connection is not essential but is preferably employed. Suthcient lost motion can be obtained by loose connections between the links and the levers before described.

In Figures 8 and 9 I 'haveshown a somewhat equivalent arrangement. In this case, however, the support 4 is made a part of or secured directly to. the post 6. In other respects the construction and operation are similar.

(The operation of the mechanism has heretofore been explained, but briefly stated it is as follows:

When the shift key is depressed to raise the carriage, the latch T is first withdrawn from the'carriage supporting frame and then the carriage is raised to upper case position and is held there as long as the shift key \is depressed. .When the carriage is thus raised for printing capitals at intervals,

the support for the front part of the carriage and for the rear part thereof are not brought into operation, being unnecessary, but when a series of capitals is to be printed and the ne 'of print and the weight of the carriage at'the rear is eiiiciently supported so that any tendency to sag or drop or to place strain on the guides isovercome. When the carriage is lowered, the reverse mechanism, of course occurs; The support .4 is first moved from under the pin 1 coin operation of the e idently with the withdrawal of the dog X and then the carriage can return to lowered position in the usual way.

I claim as my invention: 1. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable from one position to a raised position, and a support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage effective only when said carriage is shifted from normal position for holding it in raised position.

2. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable from one position to a raised position, a support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage for holding it in raised position, and means for moving the support into and out of operative position.

3. In a typewriti ng machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable from one,

position to a raised position, a, support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage for holding it in raised position, and means whereby the support is effective only after the carriage isshifted to the raised position.

4. In a typewriting' machine, a main frame, a platen carria position to a raised position, a support on the main frame sustaining the weight of the carriage when in raised position and means whereby the support is effective only after the carriage is shifted to the raised position.

5. In a typewriting machine, frame, a, platen carriage shiftablethereon from one position to a' raised position, an a support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage for locking the carriage against shifting movement in either direction when it is in raised position. f

6. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon from one position to a raised position, and

a support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage effective only when saidcarriage is'shifted from normal position for sustaining the weight of the carriage when in raised position and locking it against downward movement. a

7. In a typewriting machine, a 'main frame,'a platen carriage shiftable thereon from one position to a raised position, means for shifting said carriage, a support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage for holding it in raised position,,and means op erate'd' by said shifting means for moving the support into and out of operative position. ,8. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon from one position to a raised position, and a support on the main frame at the rear ,of the carriage and which moves in a horizontal plane for holding the carriage in raised position.

9. In a typewriting machine, av main from one position to a e shiftable from one.

at the rear of the carriage for A a main frame, a platen "carriage shiftable thereon in raised position and a support on the main frame for the front portion of the carriage when in raised position.

10. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon raised position, a support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage for holding it in raised position, a support on the main frame for thefront portion of the carriage when in raised position, and means for moving both supports into and out of operative position.

' 11.I n a typewritlng machine, a main 1 frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon from one position to a raised position, a support on the main frame at therear of the carriage for holding it in raised position, a support on the mainframe for the front portion of the carriage when in raised position, means for shifting said carriage to the raised position, and means operated by the shifting means for moving both supports into and out of operatlve position.

12. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon from one position toa raised position, a support on the main frame carriage support portion on the main frame for the front of the carriage when in raised posid tion, and means for coincidently moving both supports into operative position.

13. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable to raised position, a rotatable support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage-which holds the carriagein raised position, and means for operating said support.

14. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable to raised position, a rotatable support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage which holds the carriage against vertical movement in either direction when it is in raised position, and manual means for moving said support to operative position.

15.In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable to raised osition', meansfor shifting said carriage, a rotatable support on the mainframe at the rear of the carriage which holds the carriage against vertical movement when it is in raised position, and means operated by said shifting means for moving said support to operative position.

16. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon,

at the rear of the for holding it in raised position, a

17. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon, and a support on the main frame movable in a horizontal plane to hold the carriage against any shifting movement when it is in shifted position.

.18. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon, means for shifting the carriage, a support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage, and means operated from said shifting means for moving said support about a vertical axis to hold the carriage in shifted position;

19. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon,

a post on the main frame, a sleeve on said post, and flanges on sald sleeve acting as limiting stops for the shifting movement of the carriage and to hold it in raised position.

20. In a typewriting machine, a main frame, a platen carriage shiftable thereon, a support on the main frame at the rear of the carriage, a pin on the carriage, means for causing engagement of said pin and support to hold the carriageagainst movement when in shifted position, 'and an eccentric adjustment for said pin.

21. In a typewriting machine, a vertically movable platen carriage, a shift key for raising it, means operated by the shift key for holdin the carriage in lower position and for reIeasing it for vertical movement,

means for locking the shift mechanism to permit the carriage to remain in upper case position, and a support for the rear portion of the carriage carried by the main frame and which is normally out of supporting position but which is movable into support mg position when the carriage is raised for upper case printing.

22. A rear support for a vertically movable typewriter carriage when in raised position, comprising a vertical post having a horizontally projecting carriage supportlng member which is movable about the axis of the post into operative relation to the carriage to sustain it in upper case position.

23. A rear support for a vertically movable typewriter carriage, comprising a vertical post provided with flanges for limiting the vertical movement of the carriage while being raised or lowered, and an intermediate flange for supporting the carriage in upper case position.

24. A rear support for a vertically movable typewriter carriage, comprising a vertical post, a sleeve thereon having on one side a flange adapted to support the carriage in upper case position, and on the opposite side means for limiting the vertical movement of the carriage, and a yielding spring connection between the sleeve and the post.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

ANTHONY UTZ. 

